Popular sergeant retires after leading Clonmel Community Policing Unit for over 15 years

Sgt Kieran O’Regan, who led Clonmel District Community Policing Unit since its establishment over 15 years ago, retired from An Garda Síochána last week after 30-years dedicated service with the force.

He will be a hard act to follow and will be deeply missed in Clonmel and district where he was noted as a very approachable, helpful and empathetic garda who loved nothing more than being on the beat in the community.

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Garda colleagues past and present gathered at Clonmel Garda Station last Monday to say farewell to Sgt. O’Regan and wish him well in his retirement.

Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Pat English, Clonmel Fine Gael TD Michael Murphy and several Clonmel Borough District councillors were among the community representatives who attended the coffee morning organised in Sgt O’Regan’s honour on his last day on duty as a garda.

Garda Supt. Niall O’Connell, who leads Tipperary South Community Engagement Area, made a presentation to him on behalf of An Garda Síochána at the celebration.

Supt. O'Connell thanked Sgt O’Regan for his service to An Garda Siochana and paid tribute to the huge contribution he made to force and community policing.

“He was a fantastic community policing sergeant who integrated himself into his community and worked with and for his community,” the superintendent told The Nationalist.

Supt. O’Connell thought it was fitting that Kieran’s last day on duty in uniform was spent accompanying children from south Tipperary who are An Garda Síonchána Blue Heroes on a trip to the Dáil at the invitation of Deputy Michael Murphy.

Kieran, a native of Bruree in Limerick said he loved his work as a garda and got greatest satisfaction from helping and supporting people.

His career began at Templemore Garda Training College in February 1994 and he was attested as a garda in April 1995.

His first posting was to Kevin Street Garda Station in Dublin where he recalls policing an anti-drugs demonstration in the north inner city that was attended by Gerry Hutch aka The Monk.

His unit were the first gardaí at the scene after the attempted murder of another notorious Dublin crime figure, Martin Foley, better known as The Viper.

After his stint in Dublin, Kieran spent six months on patrol duty along the Border preventing cattle smuggling during the BSE crisis before being transferred to the one-man rural Templederry Garda Station near Nenagh in 2001.

He transferred to Clonmel Garda Station in 2007 and was also promoted to the rank of sergeant that year. He moved to live in Clonmel 12 years ago.

Clonmel was one of the first districts in Tipperary and the country where a dedicated Community Policing Unit was established in 2009. Kieran was the unit’s sergeant from its inception and is very proud of the work its officers do.

He says the Community Policing Unit’s work with residents, community groups like Community Alert and Neighbourhood Watch, the elderly and with local agencies and schools has been all about increasing interaction between gardaí and the public.

He and the unit’s gardaí give talks in schools on topics ranging from drugs to internet safety and bullying including online bullying.

He is a firm believer that gardaí should live in the communities where they work.

He personally found living in Clonmel hugely important to his work as a community garda in the town as he felt it enabled him to build up trust and visibility with people in the town.

He remembers how growing up in a rural community everyone knew who the local garda was and were able to put a face to the name.

“Dealing with the Gardaí can be a big ordeal for people but if they get to know you locally it’s not.

“ If people know their local gardaí, they feel they can approach them if they have issues.”

He is concerned though that this high visibility community policing has been lost a bit in the organisational reforms of the force introduced by former Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, who also formally retired last week.

Kieran stressed to young gardaí the importance of engaging positively with people they deal with through their work and treating them with sympathy and empathy.

“I advise young gardai to treat people as if they were members of their family; to treat them how they would like to be treated if they were a relative of theirs.

“My attitude is that but for the grace of God it could be your family member (who is in trouble with the law).”

Along with being the Community Policing Unit sergeant, Kieran was Courts Sergeant at Clonmel Circuit Court sittings for most of the 18 years he was stationed in Clonmel.

The role involved being responsible for court security, looking after and protecting trial juries and presenting cases to the court where there was a plea of guilty or at sentencing hearings following a conviction.

Kieran was also the Garda Family Liaision Officer at Clonmel Garda Station who was designated to be the Garda contact for families affected by crime and serious incidents ranging from accidents to suicide. He helped and supported families by keeping them up to date on investigations, guiding them through what’s involved in a court hearing and helping them with victim impact statements.

He has been an active member of the Association of Garda Sergeants & Inspectors and chaired its Tipperary committee since 2010. It’s a role he is now stepping down from due to his retirement.

He shares the concerns of the AGSI about the operating policing model reforms that have created larger Garda divisions.

“We have a Tipperary/Clare Garda Division now with our chief superintendent based in Ennis. There is no garda superintendent in Cahir and it takes two hours and 20 minutes to travel from Ennis to Carrick-on-Suir. It’s got too big,” he says bluntly.

It’s one of many changes Kieran has witnessed in An Garda Síochána and in policing since he graduated from Templemore in the 1990s.

Among them were the removal of the height restriction and increase in the age limit for entry to the Gardai.
When he started out men had to be 5ft 9 inches and women 5ft 5 inches in order and a maximum age of 26 in order to qualify for entry to Templemore. Gardaí can now enter the force up to nearly the age of 50.

He sees the introduction of cameras in Garda stations and at Garda interviews as positive developments to protect the public as well as gardaí.

He says technological advances in CCTV and mobile phones have acted as great crime deterrents but he notes this technology can be used in the wrong way as well.

He believes legislation should be introduced to protect gardaí against online threats and intimidation by “keyboard warriors” and from people recording them on mobile phones while they are doing their duty.

“It’s intimidating and bullying. I don’t think any other police force would tolerate people recording them on official duty.”

He is in favour of body cameras being rolled out to all garda officers as a protection for them.

Other positive changes he cites during his career were the introduction of Garda family liaision officers and increase in clerical staff to support gardaí in their work.

However, he believes more clerical staff need to be hired because one of the negative changes gardaí, and particularly sergeants and inspectors, experienced in recent years has been the increased amount of paper work they have to do.

He says the burden of clerical work is preventing sergeants and inspectors from being out policing on the streets and mentoring younger officers.

Kieran earned four commendations from An Garda Síochána between 2017 and 2022 for excellence in policing in dealing with difficult and sensitive incidents in the course of his work.

One of the two commendations he received in 2017 was a Commendation with Distinction.

In 2016, he was one of four Clonmel gardaí who received an Irish Water Safety Association national award for saving a man who fell into the River Suir in the town.

The tribute Independent Cllr Richie Molloy, who is Carers Support Manager with Family Carers Ireland in Clonmel, paid to Kieran O’Regan on his retirement, highlights how he was the epitome of a community garda during his years in Clonmel.

“On behalf of Family Carers Ireland, I would like to acknowledge all the support Sgt. O’Regan gave us over many years.

“He was always great to turn up for carers events whether it was the annual Easter egg hunt or mini-marathon.

“I know from my role in Family Carers Ireland, he was very supportive of all community groups in Clonmel and we wish him and his family the best.

“I was delighted to attend the coffee morning at Clonmel Garda Station last week to mark his retirement and the fact so many former members of the gardaí turned up to the event was a tribute to his standing among them.”

Cllr Molloy said following Sgt O’Regan's retirement, he hoped the Clonmel Community Policing Unit will be properly resourced because it is a “vital link” between the Gardaí and wider community.

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